The lesson we have learnt from our practical experience in supervising implementation of road safety projects in low income and middle income countries, including Africa, is that road safety has a socioeconomic and political context. Real progress can be made if development agencies and governments deal realistically with this context. Road safety is no accident: it is the result of deliberate efforts by many sectors of society, both governmental and nongovernmental, that have acknowledged it to be an important and valuable public good and have developed policies and programmes to support and maintain it. Development agencies, governments and non-governmental organizations need to allocate financial and human resources to address the road safety problem; identify and support a lead agency with authority and responsibility to guide national road safety efforts; prepare or revisit national road safety strategies and plans of action; implement specific actions such as enforcement of road safety regulations on speed and alcohol; and improve data collection on road traffic crashes in Africa. The time for action is now.
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